


stars and gods

by Keira_63



Series: it's not the most conventional life, but that's why i love it [6]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types, Thor (Movies)
Genre: Clint Barton is Darcy Lewis' Uncle, Darcy Lewis is Clint Barton's Niece, Darcy Lewis's Taser, Darcy just wanted a normal internship, Darcy panics a bit, Family, Friendship, Gen, Natasha isn't physically present, POV Darcy Lewis, Pre-Avengers (2012), any recognisable dialogue is from the film Thor, but she texts Darcy, good luck with that, set during Thor (2011), she’s not exactly used to near death experiences
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-28
Updated: 2020-12-28
Packaged: 2021-03-09 20:35:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,591
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27782338
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Keira_63/pseuds/Keira_63
Summary: The internship was supposed to be a boring necessity to get some science credits. It was not supposed to involve the super-secret spy organisation her uncle worked for, a giant magical robot, and the arrival of the God of Thunder.
Relationships: Clint Barton & Darcy Lewis, Jane Foster & Darcy Lewis, Jane Foster/Thor, Phil Coulson & Darcy Lewis
Series: it's not the most conventional life, but that's why i love it [6]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1354288
Comments: 4
Kudos: 43





	stars and gods

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: I don’t own the Marvel Cinematic Universe or any of its characters. Any recognisable dialogue is from Thor.
> 
> Sorry this took so long. I've been struggling a bit with writing the Thor instalment of this series since nothing is particularly different from the film apart from Darcy being aware of SHIELD and trying to hide it. An instalment set during Avengers will follow and then things will go more AU.

Dr Jane Foster wasn’t like anyone else Darcy had ever known.

She was a tiny science tornado. An absolute genius, constantly writing nearly indecipherable but brilliant ideas on anything she could find (she had already absent-mindedly scribbled equations onto Darcy’s arms half a dozen times) and with a laser focus on her research that occasionally scared Darcy.

Of course, Jane balanced out her science genius with an almost total inability to take care of herself when she went too far into what Darcy privately called her ‘science vortex’. At those times she forgot to eat, sleep or talk in coherent sentences.

Darcy was used to unusual people, as evidenced by her close relationship with Clint and Natasha, but those two were of a completely different ilk to Jane’s particular brand of crazy.

This internship had not been anywhere near her first choice, considering it was in a completely different field to her Political Science degree, but she’d been given the wrong deadline date for applications (and she was still mad about the administration department refusing to give her any leeway following an error that hadn’t even been her fault) and the internship with Dr Foster had been the only one left to give her the science credits she needed.

Still, Darcy was fond of Jane and, despite the weird hours, Jane’s ramblings and the distinct lack of a decent coffee shop in the nearby vicinity, she was enjoying the relative calm of her internship.

She should have known the peace wouldn’t last.

* * *

When they went out in the van one evening, it seemed to Darcy that it would be just another normal night staring up at the stars.

And then things started to get extremely weird.

Jane, as per usual, could think of nothing but science. Darcy, on the other hand, rather liked the idea of living.

“I am not dying for six college credits,” she shouted to Jane, though it didn’t seem like the petite scientist was listening.

This was supposed to be a normal college experience. She’d expected danger in her future, considering her association with Clint and Nat and the possibility of her joining SHIELD, but she hadn’t been looking for it in her internship with Jane in the middle of nowhere.

She tried to get control of the van, thankful that she had taken her uncle up on his offer to give her a few lessons in driving in dangerous situations, but it was dark and stormy and she panicked when the vehicle slammed into someone.

“I think that was legally your fault,” she murmured quickly to Jane.

“Get the first aid kit,” Jane ordered.

Part of Darcy wondered how useful their basic first aid was going to be for someone they had just hit with a van, but she did as she was told.

She brought the box to Jane and her eyes widened when she caught a glimpse of man lying down in front of them.

Long blonde hair, gorgeous face, and a whole load of muscles. She didn’t want to think about how many hours he’d need to spend in the gym to look like that.

“Wow,” she half-whispered, “does he need CPR? Because I know CPR.”

Handsome man potentially in need of the kiss of life. It was like a dream come to life.

She watched Jane, flustered and nervous, and grinned – her boss was all about science most of the time, but it was good to see her human side, entranced by a good-looking man.

“His eyes –” Jane began.

“Are beautiful,” Darcy interrupted.

“– are dilating,” Jane continued, now back to sensible, scientist mode, “that’s a good sign.”

“We still have to get him to a hospital,” Erik reminded them.

“After we get a reading on the storm?” Jane suggested.

Darcy rolled her eyes. Jane and her science.

“Immediately, Jane,” Erik insisted.

Jane sighed but she nodded in agreement.

“Where did he come from?” Jane asked, voicing the thought that had been running through Darcy’s head ever since they saw the stranger.

This was the middle of nowhere, the middle of a desert. The only reason Darcy, Jane and Erik were out there was because Jane was kind of a lunatic when it came to science.

The man suddenly sat up, starling Jane enough that she fell backwards. When he managed to stagger to his feet and offer Jane a hand up, Darcy felt her concern rise. They’d hit the man with a van – surely he shouldn’t be able to get up so easily.

“Uh, thanks,” Jane said.

The man paid her no attention, looking around, muttering something about a hammer.

“Yeah, we can tell you’re hammered,” Darcy agreed, “that’s pretty obvious.”

The guy was acting extremely weirdly after all. The most likely explanation was that he was drunk. She didn’t really want to think about the potential danger if there was something else wrong.

Jane, typically, was now entirely consumed by science again.

“Erik … look at this,” she said as she pointed out the pattern in the sand.

Jane ran to grab a camera and began to take photographs, even as the breeze started to cover the pattern.

“We’ve got to move fast before anything changes,” she said, going on about samples and readings.

Erik, on the other hand, looked at the stranger with concern, “Jane, we need to get him to a hospital.”

Darcy felt like shaking her head when Jane wanted to take more samples before they left. Sometimes the woman was a negligence claim waiting to happen.

Erik didn’t look convinced, but Jane insisted the stranger was fine.

Said stranger then started shouting angrily up at the sky, “Father! Heimdall! I know you can hear me! Open the bridge!”

Inside Darcy’s head, Natasha’s voice began listing off all the possible reasons for this behaviour, the top options being some sort of mental trauma or serious intoxication. Darcy felt inside her bag to check her taser was still there – better safe than sorry, after all.

“Okay,” Jane said, “you and Darcy take him to the hospital, I’ll stay here.”

“You expect me to leave you alone in the middle of the desert?” Erik asked.

“Yeah,” Darcy agreed, “Jane, you barely remember to sleep or eat if there isn’t someone to remind you.”

The man turned to them, clearly frustrated, “You! What world is this?”

Erik tried to reassure him, but the man simply shoved him away, agitated and annoyed, “where am I? Answer me!”

Enough was enough. Darcy was not about to die in a desert because of some lunatic. Natasha would bring her back to life just to kill her again for being so stupid.

She reached into her bag as Jane tried to get Erik to move away and calm the man.

Nothing seemed to work. He just kept shouting place names that were completely unfamiliar.

“New Mexico,” Darcy offered.

She raised her taser, trying not to show any fear.

He looked at her as if he was confused, “you dare threaten Thor with so puny –”

She didn’t let him finish his sentence, firing the taser directly at him.

Jane and Erik looked at her in shock.

“What? He was freaking me out.”

Jane immediately began to take soil samples, leaving Darcy and Erik to get the stranger into the car.

 _Not_ an easy task.

“He must spend most of his time in the gym,” Darcy muttered as she resisted the urge to poke his biceps.

“Next time you decide to taser someone,” Erik sighed, “do me a favour and make sure they’re already inside the truck.”

Darcy just shrugged. She’d feel a bit bad later if it turned out the guy was only drunk, but she wouldn’t apologise for protecting herself from a potential threat.

Erik called out to Jane, who joined them reluctantly, still looking longingly at the pattern on the ground.

The plan was that they would drop the guy off at the hospital and he’d probably be all good once they’d given him a banana bag and sobered him up. Nothing to worry about at all. Darcy was sure it would be all be fine.

* * *

It wasn’t fine.

It wasn’t even close to fine.

* * *

“Name?” asked the nurse.

“He said it was Thor.”

The nurse spelt it out, seemingly completely unsurprised by such an odd name. Darcy supposed she must have seen worse before.

“And your relationship to him?”

“I’ve never met him before,” Jane admitted.

“Until she hit him with the car,” Darcy couldn’t resist adding.

Jane shot her a brief glare, “I grazed him, but she tasered him.”

“Yes, I did,” Darcy agreed proudly, refusing to apologise.

Darcy thought that was the end of it. They’d brought the man to the hospital and now Darcy could get back to the boring but predictable routine of transcribing Jane’s scribblings and reminding the woman to eat and sleep at vaguely regular intervals.

Instead, they ended up at the local diner with Thor who, despite letting her take a photo of him that got a thousand likes in under half an hour, seemed to lack basic table manners.

Oh well, at least it would be a funny story to tell her mom next time she called.

* * *

Watching Thor work his way through an entire box of poptarts and a huge stack of pancakes was pretty amusing.

What came next was less so.

Darcy recognised Phil Coulson immediately as they arrived back to find Jane’s work being loaded up.

“Crap,” she muttered under her breath, thankfully quiet enough that neither Jane nor Erik heard her.

It wasn’t that she was particularly worried for herself. She knew Phil was a good sort. The presence of SHIELD, however, didn’t bode particularly well for Jane’s work.

Jane put up a fight. Darcy stayed quiet, her desire to help her boss warring with her knowledge she, Jane and Erik were not equipped to take on SHIELD, especially with Phil in charge of the operation. She needed time to figure this out, and a conversation with Phil to try and at least get Jane’s research back without having to agree to a hundred different restrictions.

For now, though, she was sitting on the roof complaining about the loss of her iPod. She’d get it back, of course (Phil would see to that), but she knew both Jane and Erik would expect her to complain about the fact that it had been taken.

“Would you please stop with your iPod,” Jane said, “who are these people?

Erik started talking about a scientist that SHIELD had ‘disappeared’ and Darcy tried not to feel guilty about hiding her ties to SHIELD.

Her phone lit up and she looked down to read the new text that had appeared from an unknown number. It was simply a time and location, Phil’s way of setting up a meeting.

She stood up and Jane stopped ranting about SHIELD long enough to glance at her, “where are you going, Darcy?”

“We’re out of coffee and poptarts,” she said, “gotta stock up so we actually have something to eat in the morning.”

Jane nodded, her mind already back on her stolen equipment.

Darcy headed towards the door. She didn’t have long to make it to the meeting point and Phil was bound to give her disapproving looks if she was late.

Her phone lit up again, this time with a message from her uncle.

**Clint:** Why are the locations of my next assignment and your internship matching up?

 **Clint:** What have you done?

 **Darcy:** Why do you assume it was me?

 **Darcy:** Also, I have no idea what you’re talking about.

 **Darcy:** But, for the record, this was supposed to be a normal internship.

 **Clint:** I just got off the phone with Phil. Don’t try and blow me off.

 **Darcy:** Yeah, well Phil just stole all my boss’ stuff.

 **Darcy:** So he’s not exactly on my good side right now.

 **Clint:** Come on, kid, you know how it is.

 **Darcy:** Knowing it and living it somehow feel different.

 **Jane:** There’s something about Jane that hypes up my desire to ‘stick it to the man’.

 **Clint:** Darcy …

 **Darcy:** Sorry, gotta go, meeting Phil now.

She put her phone back in her pocket, ignoring the beeping that signalled Clint was sending her more messages.

It was understandable that he was worried, but at least he knew his handler was around and there was pretty much no one at SHIELD more competent than Phil Coulson.

“Hey Phil,” she slid into a booth opposite him, impressed with how he could be so out of place in his Men in Black outfit and yet garner absolutely no attention from the surrounding locals.

“Darcy,” his mouth twitched very slightly in the closest thing to a smile he tended to show in public, “do you need an extraction?”

It was nice of him to ask and she knew that, if she wanted, he’d have her far away within hours.

“I’m good, thanks,” she told him, “I want to try and help Jane if I can.”

She hadn’t known the petite scientist long at all and yet Darcy found she cared about her. There wasn’t much she could do to get Jane’s equipment back, not yet at least, but she could stick around for moral support and to stop Jane doing anything crazy in an attempt to get her research off SHIELD.

Phil eyed her shrewdly, “behave, Darcy,” he reminded her with the slightly exasperated tone of someone who knew there was a fifty-fifty chance they wouldn’t be listened to.

Darcy gave him her best innocent smile, which really wasn’t all that innocent at all. She honestly didn’t want to make things difficult for SHIELD (at least not much). Still, if she could assist Jane in a small way or two then she would do so.

Phil sighed softly, “be careful, Darcy,” he warned her.

She knew what he was getting at. She’d heard plenty of stories from Clint, Natasha and Phil, had seen the effect that missions had on them. That was second-hand, though, and this was the first time she’d truly been in the middle of a potentially dangerous situation.

She stood to leave, knowing there was nothing more Phil would say.

“I’ll be careful,” she promised, “I’ll see you later, Phil.”

She walked out, humming the Johnny Rivers song _Secret Agent Man_ , and knew that behind her, Phil was very subtly rolling his eyes.

* * *

Jane ran off with the stranger and did exactly what Erik had warned her against.

Somehow, Darcy couldn’t find it in herself to be surprised.

“I can’t just leave him there,” Jane said, as she explained later what had happened to Thor.

“Why not?” asked Erik.

“You didn’t see what happened.”

Darcy wasn’t paying attention to Jane and Erik’s argument. She was looking through a children’s book on Norse mythology and coming to conclusions that were both fascinating and completely crazy.

She showed the book to Jane and rolled her eyes when the two scientists began arguing again.

“A primitive culture like the Vikings might have worshipped them as deities,” she pointed out.

They both looked at her like she’d surprised them, but Darcy only shrugged. She might not be their kind of scientist but she wasn’t an idiot. Mythology was an important aspect in tracing the development of societies and their beliefs … plus the stories were cool.

She beamed when Jane agreed and thanked her.

“How do we get him out of there?” Jane asked.

“I may have some experience with fake IDs,” Darcy offered with a sheepish smile, “and possibly the ability to hack into the DMV.”

Jane’s eyes lit up with excitement. Erik looked worried. Darcy crossed her fingers and hoped Phil would forgive her.

* * *

Darcy was woken from her sleep by Erik and Thor’s loud, off-key singing.

She thought about getting up, but it had been a long day and she was exhausted. Besides, she could hear Jane’s voice now and, despite the petite scientist’s tendency to lose herself in her work, she was surprisingly good at corralling drunks.

She fell back to sleep listening to an old Norwegian drinking song.

When she dreamt, it was of the ancient Norse gods, eyeing earth as if it were their personal chessboard.

* * *

The morning had started normally enough, although with the addition of Thor eating enough breakfast for ten people.

At least he did the washing up with a smile on his face. Darcy wasn’t about to complain about someone else doing the dishes.

Darcy liked to think she was pretty good at dealing with unusual circumstances. She knew world-renowned spies, after all, as well as a man with one of the world’s best poker faces.

Still, when faced with four strangers banging on their window in what appeared to be full renaissance-style armour, she was shocked enough to drop her mug and stare dumbly at them for a good ten seconds.

She could never, ever let Natasha find out about her reaction. _Never_.

The visitors turned out to be friends of Thor’s, come to seek his aid. The story they told was so fantastical that she truly wasn’t sure whether to believe it. And yet … she realised she did believe.

Perhaps it would all turn out to be an elaborate prank, or a sinister plot, or even just a group of people escaped from an asylum. Darcy didn’t think so, though.

The universe had just got a whole lot bigger.

Suddenly, she was distracted by a storm forming in the distance that looked almost identical to the one that had occurred the night they had gone out in the desert and met Thor.

“Was somebody else coming?” she asked.

She had seen Thor look confused and angry and happy and sad. This was the first time he had seemed truly worried.

Everything that had happened recently suddenly seemed very scary and entirely too real.

* * *

She could have left, could have fled the town without a backward glance.

Maybe she should have. She was a civilian, after all, despite her connections, and no one expected her to stay and face what was coming.

But Jane refused to leave and Erik insisted on remaining with her. Clint and Phil were almost certainly out there too, probably even closer to the danger than she was.

Darcy stayed. She couldn’t say she didn’t fear what was coming, but she stayed anyway.

She only hoped she didn’t regret it.

* * *

“What are you still doing here, Darce,” Clint asked as he kept a close eye on the explosions that were far too close for comfort, “you’re supposed to be evacuating.”

“The pet store got abandoned,” she explained, “I can’t leave the animals in there. Think of _them_ , Clint.”

It was an easy appeal. Clint had a soft spot for dogs which would probably grow in this instance to encompass all the animals trapped in the shop.

She was right. He looked towards the pet store with the mushy look he always got when he’d been watching too many dog videos on Youtube.

“You stay safe,” he ordered, “if that thing, whatever it is, gets any closer, then you need to leave. If you get hurt, I’ll –”

“Kill me?” she interjected.

He grinned, “I’ll turn you over to Nat and she’ll make you wish I’d killed you.”

Darcy shuddered. Training with Natasha when she was pissed off with you was absolutely no fun at all.

She watched Clint, bow in hand, run off in the direction of the chaos.

He’d be ok. Everything would be fine.

She crossed her fingers just in case.

* * *

Darcy watched Thor and his friends in awe.

They were apparently the equivalent of Norse gods, so she’d expect them to be impressive, but still …

The tall dark haired woman Thor had called Sif was especially cool. She was exactly who Darcy would want to be when she grew up, at least if she had any interest in an extensive exercise regime and becoming proficient with a frightening number of weapons.

Natasha would like Sif, Darcy thought. Although, perhaps it was for the best that the two were unlikely to ever meet. Put them together in a group with the amazing Pepper Potts and some of the SHIELD women she’d heard about (Maria Hill and Melinda May sprang to mind) and Darcy imagined they’d be well on their way to ruling the world.

* * *

Thor was dead.

Then, suddenly, he was alive again, thunder crackling around him.

And not long after that it was all over.

It seemed crazy and, to be honest, she couldn’t quite process what she had witnessed.

“Do not hyperventilate, do not hyperventilate, do not hyperventilate,” she muttered to herself.

Darcy was suddenly exhausted, no longer supported by the adrenaline that had been pumping through her body during the fight.

She was hit by a sudden urge to cry, to just lie down and sob as she tried to work through exactly what she had just seen.

She was safe and so were her friends. However, now that she was no longer distracted by trying to stay alive and unharmed, she was starting to consider the consequences of what she had just seen, the implications of what sort of dangers were out there in the universe.

Already familiar with the kind of damage the human race could do to their planet and to each other, Darcy now she had to consider what other planets and alien species could do to them as well.

She saw Phil and some of the other SHIELD agents approaching and breathed a sigh of relief that he was safe.

Phil caught her eye and nodded once, almost imperceptibly. She relaxed even further at his confirmation that Clint was safe too. She didn’t think her uncle would make another appearance, though – he didn’t generally stick around for debriefs with civilian witnesses and the other SHIELD agents might consider it odd if he decided to stay.

“Donald,” Phil said with the long-suffering tone of someone who just wanted things to go smoothly for once in his life, “I don’t think you’ve been completely honest with me.”

Darcy couldn’t help it. She snorted out a laugh that had both Jane and Erik looking askance at her and Phil subtly rolling his eyes.

“Sorry,” she muttered, although she really wasn’t.

“I apologise for the deception, son of Coul,” Thor said, his stately tone tempered by an apologetic expression.

Phil sighed, “well, at least the situation appears to be under control now.”

Darcy eyed the burning wreckage of what had been three buildings and half a dozen cars. Phil’s time at SHIELD had definitely given him a warped sense of what ‘under control’ meant.

“I am honoured to have fought by your side in this great battle,” Thor told the group of SHIELD agents, “but now I must return home.”

“Mind if we tag along to your departure site?” Phil asked.

Darcy was almost positive SHIELD would just covertly follow them if Thor refused, but at least Phil had made some attempt at getting consent.

“You may follow,” Thor agreed.

A moment later he had wrapped one of his muscled arms around Jane’s waist, spun _Mjölnir and shot up into the air._

_Darcy heard the gasps all around her and only huffed – some people got to have all the fun._

She stayed pretty quiet on the journey out into the desert. She and Erik were in a van with SHIELD agents, which meant she was reluctant to speak about Jane’s work or draw any attention to herself.

Soon enough they found the spot where they had hit Thor with the van. It seemed ages ago now, even though it hadn’t been long at all, really.

As Thor and Jane spoke quietly together, Darcy turned to Thor’s red-haired friend, “so, how can you speak our language?”

“Your language?” he exclaimed, “Ha! Silly girl, you’re speaking ours.”

That was … not really a helpful answer at all. Was some weird alien device or magic translating her English so that it sounded like whatever language they spoke on Asgard? She was curious, but unfortunately he looked away before she could ask him to clarify.

“Heimdall!” Thor shouted as he stared up at the sky, “open the Bifrost!”

Nothing happened. In normal circumstances that wouldn’t concern Darcy – after all, what could a man shouting at the empty sky really do? – but considering everything that had happened recently, she got the feeling that _something_ should be happening, even if she didn’t know exactly what.

Thor looked concerned as he glanced at his friends. The fact that they looked worried too confirmed to Darcy that there was something wrong.

“He would open it if he could,” Thor said, “I fear the worst.”

“Then we’re trapped here forever,” the red-head replied.

Thor’s blond friend – Fandral, she thought she’d heard Thor call him – sighed, “then I suppose we’d best start settling into our new lives.”

Her eyes widened when he turned to her, a charming smile on his face, “are all earth maidens as fair as you?”

Darcy’s face flushed pink. She wasn’t one to be seriously attracted by just a pretty face and some flowery words, but she had to admit she enjoyed it a little bit.

Thor did not give up, though, shouting back up at the sky, “Heimdall!”

There was a hint of desperation in his voice. Darcy couldn’t blame him – the idea of being so forcibly separated from your home was horrible.

Seconds went by with no response. Thor’s face was striken and his friends looked despondent.

But then, just as Darcy thought they might all have to turn around and return to Puente Antiguo, there was an explosion of light.

She almost screamed, and couldn’t stop herself from jumping back in surprise.

This must be the Bifrost Thor had spoken about. It was one of the most beautiful things she had ever seen, a rainbow of colours and lights. She could see Jane gazing at it, entirely entranced.

The Asgardians gathered together by the Bifrost and Thor turned to Phil.

“Know this, son of Coul. You and I, we fight for the same cause – the protection of this world. From this day forward, count me as your ally.”

He paused for a moment, before adding, “if you return the items you have stolen from Jane Foster.”

“Not stolen, borrowed,” Phil clarified, ignoring Jane’s glare.

He quickly promised the return of her equipment, swiftly followed by the offer of SHIELD funding to continue her research. Jane didn’t look entirely convinced and Darcy couldn’t exactly blame her for being suspicious of a shady government organisation. Phil was a good guy, but that couldn’t be said of everyone in SHIELD. 

Thor took Jane’s hand then, kissing it tenderly and making Darcy swoon the way she always did when she watched mushy romantic movies.

“Whatever fate lies before me,” he told Jane, “you are part of it.”

He gathered Jane’s tiny form up into his arms and kissed her again, so passionately that Darcy started to blush and then averted her eyes.

A few moments later, the two broke apart. Thor stepped into the Bifrost and, with one last look at Jane, vanished into the shimmering light.

Darcy stepped up to Jane, who was hastily wiping away a few tears from her cheeks.

“It’s ok to cry,” Darcy told her softly.

“We barely knew each other,” Jane countered, “logic dictates –”

“Screw logic,” Darcy cut in, “this wasn’t exactly a normal situation. You can be sad, Janey. And tonight I’ll make us some crazy margaritas, put on some music and we can have a dance party.”

“You’re a good friend,” Jane said, “thanks, Darcy.”

Darcy shot her a grin, “great, now let’s go intimidate some SHIELD agents into doing all the heavy lifting when they return your things.”

Jane gave her a watery smile and Darcy felt relief course through her. It would take some time, but Jane would be ok. 

* * *

Clint was with the group of SHIELD agents who came to return Jane’s equipment, helping to unload all the delicate machines and putting them back according to Jane’s specifications.

He didn’t speak to Darcy, but he dropped a small package into her hands as he passed by.

She didn’t get the chance to look until later, distracted by helping Jane and then dealing with a SHIELD agent who had been driven to tears by the petite scientist’s exacting orders.

When she finally opened the package that evening, she found it contained two keyrings for her collection. One had the words ‘Puente Antiguo’ emblazoned over a sun, while the other simply included the image of a hammer.

Darcy laughed quietly to herself. Trust Clint to manage to find two such appropriate keyrings even in a tiny little town in the desert.

It was odd, in a way. The keyrings Clint bought her were always from places he went for missions, places and events he spoke of but she never saw.

The two keyrings she had now symbolised the first time Clint’s job and his personal life had really, truly collided. She knew Natasha and Phil, and had heard plenty of (no doubt sanitised) stories about their missions, but Clint had always been careful to keep her away from his life at SHIELD.

Now the two lives had crossed over in fairly dramatic fashion. It was almost inevitable, especially considering Darcy was still pondering over whether to apply for a SHIELD job when she graduated, but she still didn’t feel entirely ready.

Not even a few weeks ago, she would have thought she was much more prepared than most to deal with the attack on Puente Antiguo. Now she knew how naïve her thinking was. She’d had some training from Clint and Natasha and she was more aware than a lot of others of the dangers that could be found across the world, but it hadn’t prepared her to confront such peril head on and without warning.

She ran her fingers across the keyrings as she contemplated recent events.

Her internship would be over soon and then she’d be back at Culver to continue her degree. Phil had promised to make sure she got her credits, even though plenty of things would have to be redacted for security reasons.

Truth be told she was rather relieved to get back to campus. She had enjoyed her time in Puente Antiguo, especially as she’d got to meet Jane and Erik, but she needed some time to try and come to terms with everything that happened. She could generally roll with the punches but this sort of experience required a little more time.

Darcy tucked the keyrings away in her bag before she stood up and decided to drag Jane away from her research for a while so the scientist would actually eat something before they had their margaritas.

She didn’t have much of her internship left, so she was certainly going to make the best of it.

* * *

**Darcy:** I still haven’t got my iPod back.

 **Phil:** SHIELD protocol requires all evidence be retained and checked before its possible return to the owner.

 **Darcy:** I NEED my iPod, Phil.

 **Darcy:** How am I supposed to work without the proper playlists?

 **Darcy:** How can I pass my exams when I get back to Culver if I don’t have my _Kick that course material’s ass_ playlist?

 **Darcy:** If I fail, I’ll kill you.

 **Darcy:** Or ask Natasha to do it.

 **Phil:** I can’t make exceptions.

 **Phil:** I also have a few questions about some data codes we’ve found mixed up with your playlists.

\-----

**Darcy:** I think Phil’s found some of the hacking stuff I hid on my iPod.

 **Darcy:** HELP!

 **Natasha:** I’ll deal with it.

 **Natasha:** Next time I see you we’ll talk about how to effectively hide files.

\-----

**Phil:** The data codes seem to have disappeared.

 **Phil:** Our tech department seem to think they were just an error, some sort of junk.

 **Darcy:** Yep, that must be it.

 **Phil:** Natasha visited us yesterday.

 **Phil:** But I’m sure that’s just a coincidence.

 **Darcy:** I guess she really missed you, Phil.

 **Phil:** I saw her three days ago.

 **Phil:** I’ll let it slide, just this once.

 **Darcy:** <3 😊 😉

 **Phil:** Must you send emojis, Darcy?

 **Darcy:** Oh, I absolutely must 😊

* * *

As Darcy hugged Jane goodbye, she felt a sudden pang of sorrow.

She hadn’t expected to get on so well with Jane. The scientist wasn’t just her boss anymore, she was her friend too, and Darcy would truly miss her.

Honestly, she was a little bit worried about whether Jane would remember to eat and sleep without Darcy around to prod her, but she reminded herself that SHIELD would be providing a full team to assist Jane with her Bifrost research. Darcy would just have to remind Phil that those lab assistants should be forceful in reminding the scientist to stay healthy, and also able to read barely decipherable chicken scratch written on every available surface.

She had arrived in Puente Antiguo expecting to be a little bit bored and probably very confused by Jane’s research.

She left now, with the science credits she had come for, but also with Jane and Erik’s numbers in her phone, and the knowledge that there was far more out in the universe than she had previously known.

Darcy hadn’t ever expected an entirely conventional life, not with her uncle’s occupation, but she had the feeling that things would be very different from now on.

She only hoped she’d manage to meet any challenges that might arise in the future.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading. Hope you enjoyed it.


End file.
